Business Auditor Position Results in Increased Revenues for the County8/9/2010

Albemarle to receive approximately $550,000 in corrected sales tax allocations

Albemarle County is already reaping the rewards of filling a vacant business auditor position earlier this year to ensure that sales tax revenues are being properly allocated to the correct locality which can be confusing for some local businesses that are physically located in Albemarle County but have a Charlottesville mailing address.

A Resource Utilization Study conducted by an outside group in 2008 recognized that significant revenues were being diverted to other localities due to incorrect reporting. The study recommended that the business auditor position that was frozen at that time due to budget constraints be filled to review sales tax allocations to ensure that Albemarle receives its correct share. That position was filled earlier this year.

Since April, $384,944 has been identified and approved to be transferred to Albemarle over a six month period and an additional estimated $171,137 is in process. Additionally, annual receipts should increase $228,781 based on the adjustments. It is expected that significant amounts of additional revenues will be identified in the near future.

“We are very pleased to see the immediate cost effectiveness of filling this position which has more than paid for itself in just the first several months of operation and has brought a higher level of efficiency and accountability to our finance operations,” said County Executive Bob Tucker.